A hand-held printer system is designed for printing a stored image onto a surface or other media. In particular, various embodiments are adapted for hand-held printing onto the surface of a whiteboard. In embodiments, the printer system comprises a marking mechanism including at least one print head, a global position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head, and a control mechanism that actuates the at least one print head based on the sensed position. In other embodiments, the system comprises a local position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head relative to a drawing surface.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A hand-held printer system, comprising: a marking mechanism including at least one print head, a global position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head relative to a printing surface or medium in a global coordinate system; and a control mechanism that actuates the at least one print head based on the sensed position.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one print head is an ink jet print head including at least one array of ink jet nozzles.
3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a dry-erase ink supply in fluid communication with the at least one ink jet print head.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the global position sensing system comprises a video-based system.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the video-based system includes a plurality of glyph marks on a printing surface and at least one video camera associated with the at least one print head, the video camera arranged to sense at least one of the plurality of glyph marks to provide global position information of the at least one print head.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of glyph marks include both global and local position information.
7. The system of claim 4 , further comprising at least one colored object associated with the marking mechanism, wherein the video-based system includes a color video camera and a video data processor, the color video camera arranged to sense a printing surface and the at least one object associated with the marking mechanism.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the position sensing system further comprises at least one sensor associated with the at least one print head that measures an amount of movement of the at least one print head along the printing surface.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises: at least one wheel supporting the at least one print head on the printing surface; and at least one encoder that senses rotation of the at least one wheel.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one wheel supports the at least one print head at a pre-determined distance from the printing surface.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the global position sensing system comprises at least one laser scanner position sensor.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the global position sensing system comprises an ultrasound-based system.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the ultrasound-based system comprises: at least one ultrasound transducer associated with the marking mechanism; and a plurality of ultrasound transducers associated with a drawing surface.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control mechanism comprises: an input/output interface that receives position data from the global position sensing system; a data storage device that stores a source image having pixel data; and a controller that accesses the pixel data of the stored source image based on the received position data and generates an actuation signal based on the accessed pixel data, the generated actuation signal sent to the at least one print head by the input/output interface.
15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a communication system that supplies a signal to the control mechanism to actuate the at least one print head.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the communication system comprises at least one wire connecting the control mechanism to the marking mechanism.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the communication system comprises: a first transmitter and a first receiver associated with the marking mechanism; and a second transmitter and a second receiver associated with the control mechanism.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the first and second transmitters and receivers are infrared transmitters and receivers.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the first and second transmitters and receivers are radio frequency transmitters and receivers.
20. A method for marking on a surface using a hand-held printer, comprising: moving a marking mechanism over a surface; sensing a position of the marking mechanism relative to the surface in a global coordinate system; and actuating the marking mechanism to create a mark on the surface based on the sensed position.
21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising sending a control signal to the marking mechanism based on the sensed position, the control signal actuating the marking mechanism.
22. The method of claim 20 , further comprising generating an image data signal based on the sensed position of the marking mechanism, wherein the marking mechanism is actuated according to the image data signal.
23. The method of claim 20 , wherein sensing the position of the marking mechanism is sensed using a video-based system.
24. The method of claim 20 , wherein sensing the position of the marking mechanism comprises using a color video camera and a video data processor.
25. The method of claim 20 , wherein sensing the position of the marking mechanism comprises using a laser scanner position sensor.
26. The method of claim 20 , wherein sensing the position of the marking mechanism comprises using an ultrasound-based system.
27. The method of claim 20 , wherein sensing the position of the marking mechanism comprises using a plurality of glyph marks.
28. The system of claim 7 , wherein the video data processor performs a color-based segmentation technique.
29. The method of claim 24 , wherein using the video data processor comprises performing a color-based segmentation technique.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 15, 2001
February 11, 2003
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